Some nights all I want to do is fall in love again. Someone I’ve never seen before, or maybe I have and I just never looked at him in the right way. And it’s miraculous, this one day that started out like any other day until we meet, and then everything is different. Maybe neither one of us recognizes that we’re destined to be happy together. Miracles and destiny, and that all-important component, chemistry. You may or may not be good on paper, but for this man, you’re dry tinder.
Jane Austen Wrecked My Life meets all those needs in a great new romantic comedy. Written and directed by Laura Piani, the story follows a lean, leggy Agathe, played by Camille Rutherford. We watch her bicycling through the Parisian streets to the famous bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, where she lovingly dusts and straightens books. As someone who worked in bookstores for years, all I can say is yes, there are books and there are shelves where she randomly shelves them, and that’s where the verisimilitude ends. But, we’re not looking for gritty realism in our romantic comedies, right? Her best friend and fellow bookstore clerk tells her that she’s still looking for her Mr. Darcy. What we understand is that she’s lonely and yes, sexy, but in a tall, small-breasted way.
Agathe longs to be a writer as most of us book lovers do. And she has a good start on a steamy romance. Then she gets a bad case of writer’s block. I’ve been there, sister. Her best friend submits her work-in-progress to a writer’s retreat in Jane Austen’s family home. I’ll leave you to see what happens, but I have to say as we get to know Agathe, the man who wins her heart is a lucky man.
Co-starring Pablo Pauly and Charlie Anson.